[Finally, I'm alone].

Tom had been on this world for half a day already and he still hadn't started trying to cultivate or comprehend primal energy. At first he had get used to his new body, then he had to travel to his new home, then he fell asleep and just now he had been stuck talking with Sarah Cardinal. He was happy that he could finally move on to the reason he was here in the first place.

He sat on the end of his bed and started to sift through the relevant information in the previous Tom Cardinal’s memories with regards to cultivation. Although Tom Cardinal hadn’t been a cultivator himself, he was of course exposed to the cultivation world and had vast knowledge from the clan’s records and cultivation books. Besides just being around cultivators, Tom Cardinal had read many of the instruction manuals the clan had on cultivation. He knew of many different cultivation methods and what many of the different cultivation realms were. Actually, this was another one of the reasons that the clan was as powerful as it was. The Cardinal clan was good at record keeping, and as such, they could remain largely self-sufficient when cultivating. Their library had a fair amount of information on cultivation and over the years they had continually developed the martial techniques of the clan. However, Tom wasn’t able to learn all of this just now, because, as he was starting to sift through these memories there was a knock at the door.

[For the love of] Tom exasperatedly thought as he clenched his teeth to supress his frustration. [Who the hell is it now?]

"Come in"

The door opened and a young man and woman entered. The young man was the same age as Tom Cardinal and had the same characteristic dark brown hair of the clan, which was cut short. He also had light brown eyes, a clean shaven face and a healthier complexion than Tom. Unlike Tom Cardinal, he was a cultivator and spent a lot of time outside, training. As such he developed a healthier complexion than Tom, whose face was a bit pale. He was wearing a stylish black overcoat with a red top underneath. Red was the colour of the clan and many members liked wearing something in this colour.

The woman beside him was younger and unlike him she had had long, collarbone length, maroon coloured hair that was tied into a bun behind her head. Of course maroon wasn't her natural hair colour, it was dyed that colour. Dyeing ones hair was a luxury not everyone could afford, but, sometimes it could be seen on people from wealthy families. Also, her eyes were lighter than the young man's. They appeared to be a honey brown colour.

These two people that had just entered Tom's room were the 23 year old Adam Cardinal, cousin and close friend of the old Tom Cardinal, and Rowan Cardinal, the 18 year sister of Adam Cardinal, also Tom Cardinal's cousin.

"Hi" "Hey" Adam and Rowan said respectively.

Tom raised his hand to acknowledge them and invite them in, though secretly he was somewhat unenthusiastic about their appearance. However, he would shortly change his mind on this matter as they didn't come emptyhanded.

After entering the room they were followed in by a servant, who placed a tray of food on a table in the room before leaving.

"I figured you'd be hungry" Adam said.

"Thanks" said Tom. Now that he thought about it he did feel hungry. He hadn't eaten since inhabiting his vessel last night and it had just reached midday. After he had ascended into godhood and shed his original physical form, he didn't need to eat. Some gods would still continue to eat after ascension, after all eating can be a very pleasurable experience, but, they didn't actually have to. However, in his current state, he would have to eat. In this mortal physical body, eating was a requirement.

"So, I heard you had a tough time last night" said Adam.

"Yeah, it could be described that way"

Both Adam and Rowan found places to sit down in the room. Even though their cousin wasn't a cultivator, and therefore the weakest member of the clan, save for the clan members that were too young to start cultivating, he still had a relatively nice room. Actually, the Cardinal clan's Estate was huge; it had to be to accommodate all of its members, and as such, every clan member had at least a decent room, with the higher ranked members owning rather large and luxurious ones.

"So, how are you doing?" asked Adam.

"Fine I guess"

As Tom was being asked these questions, he was actually thinking about his experiences of coming down to this world, but, despite the disconnect between Adam's concern and Tom's thoughts, the conversation meshed quite well.

Over the course of the next half hour, Adam and Rowan talked with Tom, discussing about the previous night and making sure he was alright. They also took the time to catch up with him about more recent events in the clan and experiences they'd had, after all they were close with their cousin. Tom still hadn't worked his way through all of his vessel's memories but luckily he managed to bluff his way through and direct the conversation away from himself. Eventually, after talking for some time they got up to leave.

"Alright, we'll be off. We're both on patrol duty searching for the bandits that attacked you so we can't stay here all day"

With those last words both Adam and Rowan left the room.

The two of them were considered to be good cultivating talents of the younger generation. Adam was at the 3rd level of qi expansion and Rowan had reached the 10th level of body strengthening. Because of this, both of them were participating in searching the region surrounding Hill City for the presence of bandits. Adam had informed Tom that the clan was sending out many search parties and kill squads aiming to find the bandits hideout and eliminate them. Actually the clan already policed the area using their authority as the Governors of Hill City and would kill any roaming qi beasts or bandits they found, but this time they were expending a lot of effort and mobilising many members of the clan and the city guard to conduct these searches.

Usually bandits weren't much of a problem in the area, but, over recent years the presence and strength of bandit groups had been growing in the north-west of the Mantal kingdom. Although the clan was already investigating these matters and dealt with bandits where they found them, the bandit's current actions had truly enraged them. From now on the clan was intending to put more effort into this matter.

After Adam and Rowan left, Tom took the time to eat the food they had had delivered. It was an interesting experience for him eating human foods in a human body. In doing so, he was opened up to new foods and new tastes he had never experienced before. Tom had to say, Adam and Rowan had left favourable impressions on him, though at this point in time he still didn't have any particular feelings towards them.

After devouring the food, he got back to doing what he was trying to do before he had been interrupted. Tom sat on the bed and once again began working his way through the memories of his vessel.